FINDING HARMONY PODCAST
What is a spiritual practice? How does it work? How will it improve my life? How will deepening my self-care transform me? What strategies can I use to improve my life, increase my health, and create wellness? How can craft a life that I love?
The Finding Harmony Podcast gets to the root of all these questions. Each episode is full of inspiration, humour, honest observations, and actionable steps that you can integrate to enhance your experience of self-love, develop a connection to Spirit, and create a life you truly love.
Show Notes Below:
JOHN & JULIA SCOTT: Stand Fast Together in Love
If you thought you knew John and Julia Scott, you’re going to get a whole new look into their personalities here on our podcast today. You’ll hear about John Scott’s roots growing up in New Zealand and the similarities between clans, even from different parts of the world. Our conversation looks at how ancient rituals from different cultures effect us still to this day.
Sophia French: SanĀtana Yoga
Born in India, growing up in Dubai, and then returning to India for college, our guest today might have a name that sounds like she’s from Europe, but she deeply connected in mind, body, and spirit to her native roots as a Christian-Muslim Indian.
Un-Layering with Philippa Asher
In this episode you’ll hear Philippa Asher and I peel back the layers of the Ashtanga yoga practice. As two of twenty Certified women who teach this method, we’re talking about unique issues that relate to female practitioners. We explore what it takes to become a Certified teacher? And what are some of the pitfalls, obstacles, and challenges you may encounter along the way.
From Norway to Nepal with Ellen Johannesen
Our guest today is a lovely Elvish woman, who could’ve easily descended from a family of Wood Nymphs. Ellen Johannesen was born in Norway but has spent many years living abroad, mainly in India and Nepal. She was first introduced to yoga during her career as a professional dancer and has been teaching now for over 20 years.
Solidarity with Basia Lipska Larsen
Our guest today is a dear friend. She is so delightfully effervescent and youthful in her attitude that she could’ve been sprouted out into the world like an Athena parading out of Zeus’s skull!
Basia Lipska Larsen is a passionately cheerful person, so much so that one cannot help but smile in her presence…
Homeward Bound with Michael Schabort
Today our guest is South African born Michael Schabort, an indubitable ‘child of the wind.’
Michael is an interesting person, who ever so naturally goes with the flow. Someone who floats through space and time like a salmon swimming up river. There are bears. There are female salmon. But there is also the journey home. And the journey for the sake of journeying itself.
Life As Art with Asta Caplan
Today our special guest, Asta Caplan makes it look EFFORTLESS!
Anything is possible and she does it seemingly all day, everyday. Feet on her head, bang. Feet twisted up in her belly, bang. Hand-standing the whole time. And, yet our guest today has a bit of a twisted history.
Yoga Talks on Pirate Radio with J. Brown
We caught up with J Brown, podcast creator, and host of Yoga Talks for the last seven years. With tears shed all around, J shared with us the story of how he lost his mum as a very young man. It’s a heart rending story. And, for all of us when our heart rends it is an opportunity for healing. To heal is a blessing. We just don’t often do it.
Stoking The Inner Fire with Sarah Hatcher
From skiing and horseback riding to fighting fires and then throwing herself fully into her Ashtanga Yoga practice, after being stuck in Marichyasana-D (a difficult twist in the Primary Series) for 4 years, she continued on with dedication and determination, to become a Fourth Series practitioner under the guidance of David Garrigues and Dena Kingsberg.
The Long Way Home with Vikram Jeet Singh
Armed with Pasasana as a superpower our guest today, Vikram Jeet Singh joins us to talk about the evolution of the asana practice and our attachment to the physicality of it and how we can begin to embrace a wider scope of practice.
You’ll find we touch upon interesting and somewhat difficult topics of racism, cultural appropriation, fascism, the relationship between yoga in the West vs East, and how our mind, higher intellect, and ego interface to make sense of our experiences in life.
A Golden Journey with Diana Christinson
Diana Christinson takes us on quite a journey. It reminds us of Leonard Cohen’s Dance Me To The End of Love, a sacred vision of love and life that reflects our Hero’s quest to find meaning in both. Diana has a wonderful quality of goodness about her, steadiness in the midst of turmoil. We talk about death of loved ones and the space loss leaves; yet, Diana maintains a balance of mind and spirit of loveliness. She is an inspiration and a testament that yoga actually does work.
Finding The Sweet Spot with Alyson Stover
This morning it is our delight to present one of the most interesting people alive: The lovely Alyson Stover! With these people its always one near death experience after another and then some… Please enjoy your morning as our guest today entertains us with insider stories about DC, cross Atlantic ocean travel, Hollywood, big studio executive jobs, Ashtanga yoga in the 90s, and of course, harrowing health scares.
No good life is complete with almost dying a few times!
A Mother’s Devotion with Pranidhi Varshney
Happy Mother’s Day! We are so delighted to share this conversation with you this morning. This is an important week and an emotional one.
Pranidhi Varshney is the founder of Yoga Shala West, a community-supported Ashtanga Yoga studio in West Los Angeles. She is also mother to two children who she describes as “courageous and wise little beings.” The thread that runs through all her work is the desire to build community and live from the heart.
The Caño Cristales of Emilia Arenas
It is our honour to share with you all a conversation with our dear friend Emilia, who teaches Ashtanga Yoga in Miami. We met her many years ago on tour with Paramaguru R. Sharath Jois, and we are excited to talk with her again. We found out about her childhood in Bogatá and the impact of the Medellín Cartel on her family, and we talked about the American appetite for narcotics that sewed that destructive force in her life. This led quite naturally to a frank conversation about NA and AA and the role those positive communities had in getting her clean and sober and becoming now a “mamá caliente.“
The Facts of Life with Nicola Nixon
Diet is something that every yoga practitioner is passionate about. Whether you’re vegetarian, vegan, eating fish or meat, Keto, Paleo, following a Mediterranean Diet, Sattvic, Rajasic, or Tamasic we’re obsessed about how we’re feeding our bodies to help our health and advance our yoga practice.
Nicola Nixon is a mom of two, Yoga Teacher & Ashtangi, Nutritionist (MSc) (ANutr), Yorkshire Gardener, Finance Exec (FCA), and Cancer Survivor. Today we're talking about how diet can heal your body. How important is the microbiome is and how rheumatoid arthritis and cancer, along with a whole host of other disorders, can be influenced for good or ill through dietary choices.
Sara Intonato: Learning To Thrive
It’s one thing to manage your own life, and another to do it in an emotionally intelligent, and self regulated way; Even more so, to embody the spirit of the bodhisattva, to serve and lead other parents through their own journey with Neurodiverse children.
Sara Intonato is someone all can learn from. We believe you will love hearing her story and may even take away some gems for how you can manage, cope, and thrive as a parent! Parenting and practice is never easy, but when done with the right intention, your practice can help you become an even better parent!
Urban Yogi Ben Eckett: Gloves Not Guns
Our guest today, Ben Eckett, is fairly new to Ashtanga, starting back in 2016; but he’s lived a life devoted to serving fellow humans and his constantly focused on increasing good in the world. He’s super charming and full of passion and emanates love for his life’s mission.
He’s a “Devon man,” and like his yogi grandfather, devilishly handsome. We asked him about the contradiction in teaching boxing and yoga to kids and prison-mates. Is there a contradiction to teaching martial arts as a tool towards the betterment of a more loving society?
Vegan Vitality with Kathleen Kastner
It is with great pleasure that we introduce you to our guest today, Kathleen Kastner. A devotee of Paramahansa Yogananda’s Self-Realization Fellowship, an adopted child of Kansas, Deepak Chopra’s personal trainer, a philanthropist, and a published author many times over. Her passion was fuelled by working with clients who were struggling with obesity and helping them lose weight. She is certified in plant-based nutrition with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and has her own Vegan cooking YouTube channel.
Zeena Kalisperides: A Greek Warrior Princess?
During the course of this morning’s conversation we touched on the subject of authenticity. How does someone become real we asked? We spoke with Zeena on some surprisingly hot topics. We went looking for answers to some difficult questions regarding appropriation and appreciation? What is the difference? Does appropriation have to do with breaking ahimsa (non-harming)?
We talked about privilege, racism, and defining our present understanding of past experiences — as uncomfortable as that new understanding might be… like our work with the transgressions of Pattabhi Jois.
Eddie Stern: I'll Be Your Mirror
We have someone we have wanted to speak to ever since we first initiated this Podcast: The Inimitable Eddie Stern! You’ll feel absolutely transported as you jump right into our conversation with the iconic Eddie Stern… Talking about rectangles of all things and their place of importance in our world!
Around 3 minutes in, you’ll get to hear why (or why not) we always do postures to the right side first! And, of all the outrageously unorthodox things we said in this interview, “jumping to the left” seems to epitomize how unconventional we’ve all become.